Wildcats win game of inches to advance
a Class 5A Region III championship series in which every game was decided by one run, six inches determined Game 3.
With two outs and runners at second and third in the bottom of the seventh inning of a one-run game, Barbers Hill leadoff Maddy Simon sent a ball down the third-base line that would have cleared the bases, but the third-base umpire ruled it foul, barely. Next pitch: Called Strike 3, Game over.
The Wildcats, who trailed twice after two three-run home runs by Rebecca Miller, held on to win 9-8 on Saturday at the University of Houston, sending them to the state semis for the second time in four years.
“That one definitely went in our favor,” Angleton coach Cindy Rubio said. “I think somebody blew that ball just a little bit for us.
“That’s probably the three toughest games we’ve played all year long, back-toback-to-back, so it’s one of those where somebody was going to have to stay in it and win out, and I’m happy it was us.”
Angleton (37-3) won the opner 1 5-4, and Barbers Hill won the second game 5-4.
With their 9-8 victory in Game 3, the Wildcats secured their second regional crown since 2016 and another trip to Austin, where they fell to Gregory-Portland in the state semifinals the last time around.
Aaliyah Garcia, who picked up the completegame win, left fielder Avery Farr and center fielder Ellie Grill were freshmen on that team, and Raegan Kotrla’s sister, Mackenzie Kotrla, was a senior.
“This is huge,” Rubio said. “We have a lot of talent in this group, and we missed last year (falling in the Class 5A Region IV final), and I know they were really wanting to take care of it and get back this year.”
Barbers Hill, which won Region III last season, ended its year at 39-5.
“Obviously, we don’t feel very good,” Barbers Hill coach Aaron Fuller said. “This is definitely not where we expected to end our season. But we knew all year we were on a collision course to face Angleton in the regional finals, and this series here didn’t disappoint anybody — other than us for not winning.
“(But) if that ball is six inches more to the right, we’re celebrating there and heading to Austin next week.”
Angleton jumped out 2-0 in the first, only to go down 3-2 in the bottom of the inIn ning on a three-run bomb by Miller. Then the Wildcats tied it at 3 in the third, when Farr doubled and scored on an error, only to see Miller answer with another threerun homer in the bottom of the inning — this one a nodoubter that cleared the much taller screen 5 feet behind the center field fence.
“Give credit it to my girls,” Rubio said. “They really stepped up and stayed after it. They never gave up (Saturday) no matter what. That’s something we talked about — making sure we were staying in it whether we had one strike, two strikes, looked crazy on a changeup, had an awful swing or missed a pitch we thought we should have hit.”
Far finished 5-for-5, including a two-run single in the seventh they had to have to hold off Barbers Hill, which scored twice before Garcia got the final out.